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Now, let me introduce you to another trading technique of making it big in the Forex market and walk away with mega profits within the shortest trading time. Believe me that I have tested this technique and also want to let you know that 75% traders in Nigeria are scalpers. I really celebrated the New Year thanking God for giving me the courage to develop more on scalping as a trading strategy.

What is Scalping? Many traders don’t really understand that simple word. Some even pronounced it wrongly, and if you don’t understand the meaning now, you can not benefit from the mega returns that the strategy is generating in the world’s largest financial market.

Scalping is a focused technique that involves making a minuscule trade to generate profit within a short period of time. This method of trading the FX market is of high probability trades with extremely small risk stops and predefined profit objectives, it is also a means of taking a million trades to make a million dollars.

There are different types of traders; “Position Traders” “Intraday Traders” and “Scalpers” A position trader could engage in trades that are intended to last for multiple days or months with huge pips target of hundreds to thousands. An Intraday trade could typically engages in trades that might last for less than a day aiming for targets of 20 to 100pips while A Scalper engages in trades that might last for few minutes and the minimum target could be 5+ pips. Pick your calculator now and calculate 5pips on a 2.00 standard lots of 5 trades per day for 20 trading days (5pips x 5 trades x 20 dollars x 20 trading days = $10,000 monthly) If all the scalping techniques are adhered to. Are you saying it’s not possible! Just demo trade this for a month and see what I am saying.

A scalper normally trade higher lots size or volume depending on your account size and risk acceptance. For the fact that this technique requires a maximum Stop Loss of 20pips, you must also maintain a good equity management principle. If you could just sincerely follow the rules that I will be teaching you on this technique, you could rake in more profits to your bank account without stress compared to day or position traders.

Let me sound this warning that if your account can not accommodate the risk involved scalping with higher lots or contract value, please don’t trade higher lots. Simple! Because scalping is more emotional and advanced in nature in the aspect of making a very quick decision and trade execution. Don’t trade without setting your stop loss when scalping. Trading without stop loss could wipe off your account with this strategy. P-L-E-A-S-E, just follow the simple trading rules that I will be sharing with you.

Scalpers often engage in multiple trades per day. Some traders execute several trades and make profits with ease. Don’t worry, I will teach you the technical know-how of scalping the market. Scalps are executed in the direction of the current trend of the Forex market. You can’t run away from the fact that the “trend is your friend” if you don’t know the trend of the market, don’t place any order.

You could also take larger profits as this lesson is getting more technical by applying trailing stop. What is Trailing Stop? Stop Loss is intended for reducing losses where the symbol or currency pair price moves in an unprofitable direction. If the position becomes profitable, stop loss can be manually shifted to a break-even level. To automate this process, Trailing Stop was created. This tool is especially useful when price changes strongly in the same direction or when it is impossible to watch the market continuously for some reason.

The beauty of scalping is that, it allows traders to trade even when other techniques would make you sit with your PC for long without trading. Scalping is best used in conjunction with or as a supplement to other trading techniques – so keep trading your normal strategy that you are used to and add scalping to your trading toolbox.

TYPES OF SCALPING

There are three methods of scalping the Forex market which I will be teaching in this article: You could apply the EMA 4/12/63 to 15 minutes chart of your trading platform and scalp with the strategy. Alternatively, apply the one I will be sharing basically for this technique.

1. Time-sensitive trades: This comes in 2 forms: Firstly, in opening range breakouts, where a quick scalp is taken minutes before the open, in the direction of any market thrust. I revealed an important secret in the previous edition of SDE on the best trading time for the EMA 4/12/63. Meanwhile, if care is not taken, the bull back preceding the breakout of the 7:45am Nigeria time might strike your stop loss. But you can perfectly study the market; and scalp to make profits before the main breakout. And I will advise you always use your Bollinger Bands, preferably on a separate 15mins chart.

Secondly, trading to capitalize on the regular market turnaround time of the New York opening session. Infact, scalping is the best strategy to apply because something must happen. Keep your eyes also on 15 to 30 minutes to the FA release. I bet you that you would have made your target before the news. Then if the news is worth trading, trade and make more profits. Always tie this law on your neck and do not let it depart from you “make 20 or 30pips per day and every other pips shall be added unto thee”

2. Countertrend trades: Scalping when the market is silent or consolidating during the trading day. It could be the Asia session too.

3. Trend continuation trades: These methods focus on entering the market in the direction of a trend AFTER the trend has gone underway. They are also classified as retracement trades.

One of the most liquid, active and electronically accessible market is Online Forex Trading and I feel the scalping method represents the best known chances for picking consistent profits as a trader/scalper.

Oh! Getting interesting? Then I expect you to contribute, so that I can show you more ways of scalping the market soon.

Scalping is a very good trading strategy but I will like to encourage you that this strategy is not for all traders because of the emotion and risk involved. It is an advanced trading method that needs to be mastered before committing your live account. The scalping trading strategy that I will be sharing involves simple indicators; MACD and MOVING AVARAGE(s).

The MACD is an acronym for Moving Average Convergence/Divergence. It is a trend following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of prices. The MACD default is the difference between a 26-day and 12-day exponential moving average. A 9-day exponential moving average, called the signal or trigger line is plotted on top of the MACD to show buy/sell opportunities.

MACD’s can be used as an oscillator, does that sound too technical? No! Oscillators indicates that the asset will revert back to its mean valuation OR a Momentum indicator; indicates that the trend is strong and will continue. Parameters: The MACD line is the difference between the 12 and 26 day EMA. The signal line is the 9 day EMA of the MACD. Visually, the MACD consists of three elements, like the MACD, it is a line plotted on the bottom of the chart. The MACD line. This is simply the difference between the 12 and 26 day EMA. It is a line plotted on the chart. The Histogram. The MACD histogram is simply a bar chart located at the bottom/top of the chart, where the MACD and signal lines are plotted. The histogram is simply a visual representation of the difference between the MACD and the signal line. The “zero” point of the histogram – meaning the point where the bars cross above and below – is referred to as the centerline.

A Trade Signal is received when the MACD crosses the signal line. Traders can enter positions following the direction of the MACD Overbought/Oversold. No specific numbers indicate whether it is overbought or oversold, but if it is relatively far from its mean compared to its recent history, this may suggest that it is due for a decline. Divergence occurs when the pair makes new highs/lows but the MACD does not, this suggests divergence, and that the trend may in fact be weakening with a reversal in store. The MACD crossover is a straight-forward indicator that provides precise timing for entry points. The one drawback of this indicator is that it is sometimes too slow to provide a signal. Sometimes it signals an entry several candles after the ideal entry point. The price has already moved far enough that the trade no longer has a favorable risk: reward ratio. Always consider support/resistance when entering a trade regardless of the crossovers.

MACD is truly a trend following indicator – sacrificing early signals in exchange for keeping you on the right side of the market. When a significant trend developed, the MACD would alert you on how to capture majority of the move. Moreover, MACD proves most effective in wide-swinging trading markets and there are three popular ways to use the MACD: Crossovers, Overbought/Oversold Conditions, and Divergences.

CROSSOVERS: The basic MACD trading rule is to sell when the MACD falls below its signal line. While a buy signal occurs when the MACD rises above its signal line. It is also popular to buy or sell when the MACD goes above or below zero line.

OVERBOUGHT OR OVERSOLD CONDITIONS: The MACD is also useful as an overbought or oversold indicator. When the shorter moving average pulls away dramatically from the longer moving average (i.e., the MACD rises), it is likely that the security price is overextending and will soon return to more realistic levels. MACD overbought and oversold conditions exist vary from security to security.

DIVERGENCES: This is an indication that an end to the current trend may soon change when the MACD diverges from the security. A bearish divergence occurs when the MACD is making new lows while prices fail to reach new lows. A bullish divergence occurs when the MACD is making new highs while prices fail to reach new highs. Both of these divergences are most significant when they occur at relatively overbought or oversold areas.

Now, for the Scalping Trading Strategy, you will modify the MACD default by 2 deviations. And you must follow the trading rule strictly, work on your trading plan and target per trade. Preferably, 5 to 10pips is attainable with this system but once you make your target, PLEASE close your trading platform to avoid over trading, agreed and losses. Does it sound funny? You can not exempt yourself from the fact that emotions can’t rule your trading strategy and plan when you over trade.

To set up MACD for scalping, subtract 2 from the default parameters i.e. Fast EMA = 12 to 10, Slow EMA = 26 to 24, MACD SMA = 9 to 7, Apply to Close. Select the Color Tab and change the color to your favorite, you could also increase the line style. Click the Levels Tab – Add the Zero line and also change the color. You could also double-click the Description space opposite the zero value and type “Center Signal” and increase the line style too. Under the Visualization Tab, deselect the “All Timeframes” and select M15 only because this trading strategy work best on 15 minutes chart and you could also try it on 5 minutes. But I recommend 15 minutes because of how emotional and noisy the 5 minutes chart is.

HOW TO INTERPRET THE MOVING AVERAGES: Exponential Moving Average (EMA) 4 is the fast EMA, Linear Weighted Moving Average (LMA) 10 is the slow LMA, LMA 120 is the Trend line while LMA 40 to 90 signifies how stronger or weaker the trend of the market is. Let me quickly state here that; do not trade when the market is trendless/sideways or consolidating because the opportunity of trading is always indecisive. I believe you know that there are three types of market trend; and you should not trade against the trend because the probability of trading along the trend is more than trading against it.

BASIC SYSTEM RULES:

Buy Signal

Notice the confirming indicators: EMA 4 crossed LMA 10 upward on up trend is advisable and realistic of achieving your target daily i.e. both moving averages crossed LMA 120, then set your Stop Loss 10pips below the LMA 120 or look for the swing low. Also confirm you signal when the MACD histogram is above the 0 line; signaling upward momentum.

Sell Signal

The chart is an example of SELL signal. Notice how MACD Histogram went from positive to negative, and how the moving averages confirmed the sell signal. The EMA 4 crossed LMA 10 down. Set your Stop Loss 10pips above the LMA 120.

When LMA 40 – 90 are above the LMA 120, it implies that the market is in up trend while below LMA 120 signifies down trend. You should also watch for overbought and over sold. Do not join the traders with mentality of “it will soon reverse” at losses. Get the trend as early as possible and follow the trend to maximize your profits.

Using 15 minutes chart, 10 to 20 pips is a realistic initial profit target, especially if you are trading EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY. Even the other major currency pairs should yield this much on a properly measured signal.

TRADING PERIOD FOR THIS STRATEGY: Always watch out for good trading opportunity between 7:45 am NG time to 11:45 am for morning trading session, while 1.00 pm NG time to 3.45 pm is advisable for afternoon session.

TARGET: The purpose of scalping is making small profits while exposing a trading account to a very limited risk, which is due to a quick open/close trading method. I will advise you go for 10 pips plus spread per trade and demo trade this strategy for a month before going live with it. You could even go for 5 pips if you notice that the market is almost at it peak.

HIDDEN SECRETS: An additional advantage for traders technically is when there is no major news affecting the market. You will always see a clear trend for the day. When trading using technical indicators, make sure you know when the news is going to be released so that you can position yourself. i.e. close your trade 10 to 15 minutes before the (FA) news. Then 15 minutes after the (FA) news, you could trade.